Flooring-pincers.



U. OHLSBN.

FLOORING FINGERS.

APPLIGATION rum) PERM, 191s.

Patented Aug. 11, 1914.

TH:- NORRIS PETERS CO. PHDTO-LITHQ. WASHHI'EiTON. D C.

ULRICH OHLSEN, OF

DENVER, COLORADO, ASSIG-NOR IVEORTENSEN, OF DENVER, COLORADO.

0F ONE-HALF TO MARTIN FLOORING-FINGERS.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ULRICH OHLSEN, a citizen of the United States,residing in the city and county of Denver and State of Colorado, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Flooring-Pincers; and Ido declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description ofthe invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which itappertains to make and use the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, and to the letters and figures of referencemarked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to improvements in flooring pincers and consistsbroadly in a device which is adapted to engage one edge of the boardabout to be laid and to be operated to force the board up into closecontact with that section of the floor which is already laid.

One of the objects of my invention is to provide a device which shallautomatically engage with the flooring support upon the initial movementin the operation of the actuating lever.

Another object is to provide a spur which shall be automatically causedto engage the flooring support at the termination of the stroke of theactuating lever whereby the board is held while the pincer mechanism isbeing set for a further movement.

A further object is to provide a board engaging head which shall becapable of automatically changing its angle with respect to the framebar of the pincer in order that there may always be a comparatively widebearing against the board.

Other objects will appear hereinafter, as I proceed with the descriptionof that embodiment of the invention, which, for the purposes of thepresent application, I have illustrated in the accompanying drawing, inwhich:

Figure 1 is a longitudinal section taken approximately upon the line1-1, Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a plan view partly in section upon the line 22,Fig. 1. ;.Fig. 3 is a detail of the pivoted head, viewed in thedirection of the arrow 3, Fig. 1.

The same reference numerals refer to like parts throughout the views.

In the drawing, which forms a part of this specification, 5 represents aflooring support which may be merely flooring joists,

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed February 24, .1913.

i or spur .25.

Patented Aug. 11, 1914. Serial No. 750,064.

or which maybe a rough floor or an old floor upon which a new one is tobe laid. Let 6 represent the section of flooring already laid, and 7 aboard about to be laid or being laid.

The principal ortion of my device which rests upon the lfbor support, Ihave given the reference numeral 8, and this portion of the pincer, Iwill hereinafter refer to as the framebar. At its forward extremity,this frame bar ishorizontally recessed to form two bifurcations 9,provided with vertical alining perforations. The board engaging head 10is grooved at 12 for the reception of the tongue 13 upon the flooringboard 7. The forward edge of the head is also cut away at 14 in orderthat a nail 15 may be driven into the board at precisely the center ofthe part to which pressure is applied. At the rear, the head 10 has aprojection 16 of a thickness to loosely enter the space between thebifurcations 9 of the frame bar 8. This projection 16 is also providedwith a perforation arranged to aline with the perforations of thebifurcations 9 and when the parts are assembled a screw pin 17 isinserted in the alining perforations and removably held in place bythreads in the lower one of the bifurcations 9. By reference to Fig. 3it may be seen that the projection 16, that is, the thin part of thehead 10, extends farther toward the bearing edge of the head upon oneside than upon the other side which is for the purpose of permitting thehead to swing around upon one side approximately ninety degrees asindicated by the broken lines, Fig. 2.

A short distance behind the pivoted pin 17, the frame bar 8 is centrallycut away at 18, making short vertical walls 19 across which is mounted apin 20. The lower extremity of an operating lever 21 enters the spacebetween the walls 19 and is journaled upon the pin 20.' A lever 22,which I shall hereinafter term the spur lever, is bifurcated at 23, tostraddle the lever 21 to which it is pivoted by the pin 24. At its rearextremity, the spur lever 22 is provided with a downwardly andbackwardly directed point Near the rear end of its fiat part, the framebar 8 has a second cut out portion 26 in which is pivoted to swingvertically, a spur 27, the lower edge of which is inclined downwardlyvery gradually toward the rear and which has an upwardly extendingprojection 28 arranged directly below the-spur lever 22 and adapted tobe engaged thereby and pressed downwardly when the latter is in itslowest position.

The frame bar 8 is curved upwardly at its rear extremity and flattenedto constitute a foot piece 29. The upwardly curved portion is slotted vat 80 to provide a space through which the spur lever may slide. Aspring 31, preferably of heavy steel wire is fastened in the foot piecebeing held from longitudinal movement by a -pin 82. The forward end ofthe spring 31 rides in a groove 33 arranged longitudinally in the up persurface of the spur lever 22.

I From the foregoing disclosure, the operation of my improved flooringpincer may be readily understood. It is .a well known fact that flooringboards are seldom precisely straight, but are warped one way or theother. Usually, in laying flooring, a carpenter begins at one end of aboard and works toward the opposite end. In employing my improvedpincer, the frame bar 8 is placed in front of the board 7 at the pointwhere it is desired to insert a nail and the device is moved forwarduntil the groove 12 of the head 10 has received the tongue 13 01 theboard after which the operator places his foot upon the foot piece 29,thereby tending to hold the frame bar 8 from moving. He then grasps thehandle of the lever 21 and pushes downwardly. During the initial part ofthis downward movement of the op erating lever, the spur 25 is caused toengage the flooring support, the spur lever 22 being held to the work bythe pressure of the spring 31. As soon as the spur is set into thesupport, the foot is removed and downward pressure upon the levercontinued. The pin 24: now acts as the fulcrum upon which the lever 21rocks, causing the frame bar 8 to be slid forward and to push the board7 toward the section of flooring already laid. If the space ahead of theboard 7 is not too wide, this one movement of the lever 21 will besuflicient to crowd the board into place, whereupon a nail 15 isinserted and driven, or if desired, the nail 15 may be started in theboard as indicated in Fig. 1 and driven home after the board has beenpinched into place. As the frame bar 8 slides forwardly, the pivotedspur 27 is drawn over the floor ing support. Now, when the lever 21reaches the broken line osition of Fig. 1, the spur lever 22 is crow eddownwardly against the upper surface of the projection 28 upon the spurand forces the latter down into the support as shown in broken lines.The frame bar is thereby held against rearward move ment, due to theelasticity of the board 7. The lever 21 is then rocked forwardly, thereby withdrawing the spur 25 from engagement with the support. As soon,however, as the forward motion of the lever 21 is stopped and downwardpressure again brought to bear upon the lever, the spur 25 again engagesthe flooring support at a point in advance of its previous engagementand the frame bar 8 moves forward in response to continued downwardpressure upon the lever 21, the spur 27 of course, sliding freely out ofengagement with the support. This pumping of the lever 21 may berepeated several times if necessary, the spur 27 acting each time as anautomatically operate d means for holding the advantage gained by eachdownward movement of the lever.

Although, I have shown and described my improved flooring pincer more orless minutely, I do not desire to be limited to the precise detail ofconstruction, as it is obvious that minor changes may be made Withoutdeparting from the spirit of the inven- 7 tion as set forth in theappended claims.

I claim:

1. In combination with a support for flooring, a frame bar, the undersurface of which 1s fiat and adapted to slide upon the support, a headupon the forward extremity of said bar adapted to engage the edge of aflooring board, an operating lever pivoted to said frame bar, a spurlever pivoted at its forward end to said. operating lever and means uponthe said frame bar for causing the rear extremity of the spur lever toengage the flooring support during the initial movement of the operatinglever. V

2. In combination with a support for flooring, a frame bar, the undersurface of which is flat and adapted to slide upon the support, a headupon the forward extremity of said bar adapted to engage'the edge of aflooring board, an operating lever pivoted at its lower extremity tosaid frame bar, a spur lever pivoted at: its forward end tosaidoperating lever, and means upon said frame bar when downward pressure isapplied thereto for causing the rearextremity of the spur lever toengage the flooring sup port during the initial movement of the op- 110erating lever. v

3. In combination with a support for flooring, a frame bar, a head uponthe forward extremity of said bar adapted to engage'the edge of aflooring board, a foot piece upon the frame bar, a lever mechanismmountedupon said bar, and provided with asupport engaging spur, andmeans u on the bar for causing said spur to engage t e-sup: portautomatically upon the initial move- 20 ment of the lever mechanism. a

, l. In combination with a support for flooring, a, frame bar, a headupon the forthe flooring support during the initial movement of the spurlever, a second spur mounted in the frame bar and provided with anupwardly extending projection adapted to be engaged by the spur leverand forced downward during the final movement of the operating lever.

5. In combination with a support for flooring, a frame bar, the undersurface of which is flat and adapted to slide upon the support, a headupon the forward extremity of said bar adapted to engage the edge of aflooring board, said head being connected with the frame bar by avertical pivot and a lever mechanism interposed between the bar andsupport for producing a forward motion of the bar.

6. In combination with a support for flooring, a frame bar, the undersurface of which is flat and adapted to slide upon the support, a headupon the forward extremity of said bar adapted to engage the edge of forproducing a forward motion to the said bar.

7. In combination with a support for flooring, a frame bar, the undersurface of which is flat and lies adjacent to the sup port, a head uponthe forward extremity of said bar adapted to engage the edge of aflooring board, and an operating lever and a spur lever interposedbetween the said bar and support, the spur lever adapted to engage thesupport during the initial movement of the operating lever for slidingthe frame bar upon the said support.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ULRICH OHLSEN.

Witnesses:

ANNA LOUISE LEHMAN, A. EBERT OBRIEN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Iatems, Washington, D. 0.

